Airline Crisis Case Study

1 Introduction

In this paper, I will attempt to examine three different case studies of companies in the airline industry that have had to respond to airline crises, and analyse how engagement in denial in the face of a crisis affects public perception of an organization. Using the crisis response strategies of Image Restoration Theory (Benoit, 2006) and the Situational Crisis Communication Theory (Coombs, 1995), I will look at the extent to which these companies successfully abided by said theories, and the consequences that followed as a result. ….

2 Preface

Two of the three empirical studies analyses the consequences of an airline company’s poor response to a crisis. The first is the case study of the crisis that Scandinavian Airlines (SAS)

Landing was disrupted due to problems in the landing gear, and cabin was prepared for a controlled emergency landing. Although only 5 passengers were lightly injured, the accident was described as “very, very close to a serious disaster”. In the management of this incident, SAS made the decision to continue with its scheduled operations, and described the accident as an “isolated incident”. This sparked off many strong reactions from both the media and other stakeholders, who cited many problems with regards to the Dash 8-Q400 aircraft. The decision made here to dismiss the matter has been widely reviewed as careless and irresponsible in crisis management reviews in the years to follow (Khyn,

The crash of SQ006 in 2000 was the first mark on its record, taking 83 out of the 179 lives on board. 71 others received injuries. However, crisis management in the case of this aircraft crash was handled perfectly. Due to the reputation of SIA, much media attention was attracted. Following the crash, SIA was hit almost immediately by lawsuits from survivors and families of victims, along with much scrutiny from the media and public.

CEO at the time Dr. Cheong supervised the entire crisis plan and took on the role of the company spokesperson for all media activity. Unlike the previous two cases, SIA immediately took full responsibility for the crash, and disseminated information regarding the accident to the media. It even made corrections to false statements by news in Los Angeles that there were no casualties in the crash. Trained employees were also flown to the crash site to serve as grief and trauma counselors. These crisis handling strategies were all in line with the theories and strategies observed Benoit’s image restoration